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March 22, 2021

Our Dear Fellows,

We hope this letter finds you well.

As I have mentioned informally thru a viber message last March 11, 2021, we would like to update you regarding the upcoming PMA Referendum. The date has been moved to April 5, 2021 and the voting will last for two weeks. This will give more time to all PMA members in good standing to be able to participate and vote in the referendum. The Referendum question is limited to a single question:

ARE YOU IN FAVOR OF AMENDING ARTICLE XII, SECTION 1 OF THE PMA BYLAWS TO READ AS FOLLOWS:

“Article XII. AMENDMENTS, EFFECTIVITY AND REPEALING CLAUSE

Section 1: The amendment of these bylaws is delegated to the Board of Governors by its majority vote and ratified by a majority vote of the members of the General Assembly.”

Yes( ) No( )

If this amendment is approved, it will pave the way for future amendments in the PMA by laws, including opening up of recognition of other Specialty Societies like PSO-HNS. In the past, no proposed amendment was ever successfully ratified due to the provision that required 2/3 votes of the general membership for an amendment to be approved. This year, a total of 31,872 eligible PMA members can vote in this referendum. We need 2/3 affirmative votes or 21,248 votes to ratify this proposed amendment.

We need to campaign for YES votes from every eligible PMA member. This amendment is an essential step to achieve our goal to be recognized as a separate specialty society. Our Society has only 912 Fellows and less than 200 Diplomates. We cannot come close to the required number of affirmative votes if we don’t campaign vigorously. Other Specialty Societies are in similar situation. But just like us, their number is also not enough. So, we need to join hands with them and other component Societies to support us and vote YES to the referendum question.

Other Specialty Societies are questioning why we are delegating the decision to amend our by laws to the Board of Governors and the members of the General Assembly. The seventeen (17) Board of Governors are regional representatives of our component Societies. They come from the different regions of our country, representing a group of component Societies. The General Assembly is composed of the national officers of the PMA, the Presidents of the eight (8) PMA recognized Specialty Societies, the Presidents or representatives of the different PMA component Societies all over the Philippines, the officers of the General Assembly and the members of the Board of Governors.

Both the Board of Governors and the General Assembly represent all members of the PMA. Traditionally, their vote is based on the sentiments of the members that they represent. Hence, giving the authority to them to amend our bylaws is logical and lawful based on the new corporation code of the Philippines.

The PMA is currently conducting several town hall meetings to explain the need for this referendum. We were able to attend the first of such meetings last March 18, 2021. The BOT has scheduled our own town hall meeting as well, specifically for the purpose of discussing the PMA referendum on March 29, 2021. We will limit the attendees of that town hall meeting to the officers of the Chapters, Academies and Training Institutions. They will be the ones to cascade to their members the discussion points of the meeting.

On April 5-18, 2021, please go online and vote YES on the referendum question. If you are unable to vote for some reason, please campaign for YES votes. This is for our beloved PSO-HNS.

Thank you very much and God bless PSO-HNS!

Sincerely,

JOHN RODOLFO D. SUAN, JR., MD, MHA, FPSO-HNS, FPCS

President

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